Ginger Baker – Gone – IOTW Report

Ginger Baker – Gone

Sunday, 6 October 2019, 16:57 BFH Uncategorized 30

NPR has a worthy write-up on the legend. Good videos too.

ht/ jd hasty

Rando recommends this documentary (mentioned in the NPR article.)

30 Comments on Ginger Baker – Gone

  5. My recollections of Baker are limited to Cream and Blind Faith. He turned drums into an equal voice, one of three, in Cream, At times it seemed Baker was tost in another world, playing a song only he could hear, then right back to reality and the song being played. At least that is me recollection.

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  7. Second hand info…

    One of the guys went up to Champaign IL (we were at SIU) for a concert and came back with the taping of the sticks story with the adding of his puking and then dry heaves for the entire set with never missing a lick.

    Not being an authority in the musician area I wonder if anyone else comes close to him on a dual bass kit.

    Remember seeing an autobiography on him (maybe it’s the PBS thing) that showed him as one hell of a polo pony rider also. In the end he attacked the biographer. Believe he has or had a son who was also good on the drums, trying to live up to the legend of his father.

    Clapton bailed him out any number of times and I’m surprised he lasted as long as he did. I’ll check the youtube stuff out tomorrow when I get to home based computer.

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  13. Sadly, recording technology was very poor in the early days. Most drumming sounded like it was done on wet cardboard boxes.

    Sunshine of your Love being a prime example.

    Before you get in my chili I am blaming recording tech, not the drummer.

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  14. Baker was the most stunning drummer I’ve ever heard. If you listen to nothing else of his, listen to Cream’s Farewell Concert at the Royal Albert Hall (2005) recording (full video) Baker’s unbelievable solo number Toad. You won’t be sorry.

    Edit: @PHenry – audio quality on the above linked Toad number from 2005 is quite good.

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  17. Mr. Baker was always reaching for the African roots of rhythm and drumming – so much that he moved there and lived there in the later years of his life.

    Here’s a favorite clip of him playing a great solo with his own band Air Force. He likes to have those heads all parallel to the floor. Who am I to question? It works for him. I’m gonna give it a try myself.

    https://youtu.be/K3yDealMJt4

    As with Moon, Hendrix, Morrison, and countless others, I have to wonder what heights he might have reached if he’d at least moderated his drug use. I’m glad he lived a full life, but I wonder how much he actually enjoyed it. He ended up a very bitter old man, and was particularly unkind to his son, Kofi.

    Fantastic, innovative and creative drummer.

    Rest In Peace, Ginger Baker

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  24. I believe that he lived near Parker Colorado for some time. He was loved by the community there and performed many acts generosity to the community, but got deported because of previous drug busts….How ironic is that?….He never killed anyone with his car, taught little kids to love music, supported charities and sold hash in L.A. in 1981ish….Now you buy hash legally in Colorado….

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  28. Those Were The Days and Deserted Cities Of The Heart are the two trickiest Cream songs for me to play on the drums. He was and is a master. It’d be a bloody shame if God didn’t save him. RIP.

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  29. some of the greatest music ever created is passing by …. the gods are leaving
    (except the Stones … they’ll never leave … they’re the fucking Walking Dead)

    may you find your peace in the next stage, Mr. B

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